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I dedicate this to my brother-in-law, Dave, who is a mathematician, and got me through college algebra. He and his boys, Ben and Sam, love to work on a problem that can’t be solved because it’s there!

PI day is celebrated by mathematicians and math enthusiast from around the world every year on 3/14. The Greek symbol used in mathematics represents a constant-the ratio of a circle’s circumference to it diameter which is approximately 3.14159265358979323846….. Math teachers have been using pie as an example to explain Pi to confused high school students for years. The earliest known official or large scale celebration of Pi Day was organized by physicist Larry Shaw in 1988 while he worked at the San Francisco Exploratorium. It is said that Shaw, with staff and public, marched around one of the it’s circular spaces while consuming fruit pies. The Exploratorium continues to hold Pi Day celebrations. In the year 2015, Pi Day had a special significance on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 am and also p.m.. The date in this format along with the the time represented the first 10 digits of Pi.

It did not take long for companies like King Author flour to jump in on the celebration of Pi Day and use it as one of the greatest marketing tools around. Every year they have sales on everything you need to bake a pie and encourage home bakers to bake and enjoy Pi (pie) Day. This is a cleaver connection because there is a lot of math involved in baking. And on Pi Day, restaurants around the country will offer the public a free piece of pie in celebration.

Below I have shared a few of my favorite pie recipes for Pi Day. How ever you intend to celebrate 3/14/2016…solving a mathematical equation, baking a pie, or both, ENJOY!

Happy Pi (pie) Day! I hope you enjoyed today’s story along with these yummy recipes.

In a sauce pan, combine sugar, corn starch, minute tapioca, lemon juice and water. Stir over low heat until everything is dissolved and thick. Remove from heat and cool. Place the strawberries in the crust and pour the thickened jell over the strawberries and refrigerate until set. Top with whipped cream and serve. Note: I like to toss and coat the strawberries with some of the jell to evenly coat them before placing the strawberries in pie shell and then top with the remaining jell.

Tip: If jell is not thick enough, add 3 tablespoons of strawberry Jello during the cooking process and cook until it is dissolved.

Ingredients for Never Fail Pie Crust: this recipe makes enough dough for 2 double crust pies or 4 single pies.

Procedure for making of the crust:
I do this by hand but you can use a food processor. Combine all the dry ingredients together. Cut in the fat until the mixture looks like corn meal. Whisk your the egg and vinegar together and add to the mixture along with the milk and mix until if it forms a ball. Cut the dough into four equal pieces, form into balls and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a day.

Note: I make my dough a day ahead.

Baking of the Crust: Preheat Oven to 375 F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 13-14-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch, deep glass pie dish. Fold dough edge over and crimp decoratively, securing dough edge to rim of dish. Pierce crust all over with fork. Freeze crust 15 minutes. Place baking beads on the bottom of the crust then bake 30 minutes until golden brown. Once baked put on rack and cool and prepare your filling.

Note: If you do not have baking beads, you can follow one of these following tips. 1. Place Foil on the bottom of the crust and pour a bag of dried beans on top and bake. Carefully remove the foil in the last 5 minutes of baking so the center can get a golden brown color. 2. You can press back any bubbles that occur during the baking process with a fork.

Procedure: First melt the chocolate: put one cup dark chocolate chips in a glass bowl and pour the hot cream over top. Let sit 5 min then stir until smooth. Take half the chocolate and pour on the bottom of the pie crust and spread evenly. Cover the chocolate with the sliced bananas. Pour the rest of melted chocolate over the bananas and set aside while you make the custard filling.

Making the Custard:

In a heavy saucepan over medium- low heat, heat milk to barely simmering. While the milk is heating, combine your egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a medium size bowl, whisk to blend smoothly and the eggs are a pale gold. Slowly add the heated milk to the eggs whisking the whole time. This is called tempering the egg mixture. Once all milk is incorporated, return mixture to the heavy sauce pan, bring back to a soft boil over medium low heat and whisk continually. Once the egg mixture starts to bubble, cook for 1 minute. Remove pan from heat add the butter, vanilla, and diced banana. Stir until butter is melted. Let cool slightly before pouring into the prepared chocolate/banana crust. Once the filling is poured into the prepared chocolate/banana crust, cover with plastic wrap so a skin does not form on top and refrigerate. Chill pie for at least 3 hours before you top it with whipping cream, slice and serve.

Homemade whipped cream: 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 3 tablespoons of sifted confectioner sugar. Whip the heavy cream ,sifted sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Now it is time to top the pie with the whipped cream cut and serve.

Place the sliced apples in a large mixing bowl and toss with the next 6 ingredients, coat everything well and set aside. Roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured pastry mat. The dough circle should be slightly bigger than the 9″ pie pan. Place the dough into the pie pan, make sure it fits well and has no air bubbles. Sprinkle the bottom of the pie crust with the tapioca pearls, add the apple filling and top with the pats of butter spreading them out. Next roll out a top crust, just like the bottom crust. Place over the filling, crimp together, and cut any excess away. Take the egg and beat it with a tablespoon of cold water. With a pastry brush, paint the top of the crust with the beaten egg. Make four slits into the top crust so steam can escape. Place the pie into a 400 F or 200 C oven and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temp down to 350 F or 180 C and continue to bake for 55 -60 minutes. The crust should be golden brown and the pie should be bubbling through the steam slits. If the crust is browning to quickly tent it with foil. Cool and enjoy. To make it extra special, serve with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.

Pumpkin you either love it and can’t live without it, or it’s not even a blip on your radar. For some, pumpkin is a fruit, yes I said fruit, and others it shall remain nameless. A pumpkin is not a vegetable; it’s a fruit! In fact, it’s a berry. Pumpkins belong to the family Cucurbitaceae, which includes cucumbers, melons, squash, and gourds. Within this family is the genus Cucurbita which includes gourds, winter and summer squash, and all varieties of pumpkin. There are four species that are considered “pumpkins,” but only one is the species most people would recognize as the traditional pumpkin used for carving jack-o-lanterns and baking pies.”

I have to say when I was younger I liked the smell of the pumpkin spices more than the pumpkin itself. When you smelled that aroma in the farm house, you knew Thanksgiving was not far behind and family and friends would be coming to celebrate. I was the kid who preferred chocolate cream pie for dessert and to make others happy I would have a little pumpkin pie with lots and lots of whip cream. At Thanksgiving you would find pumpkin cookies with maple icing, pumpkin pie, apple cake, and Texas sheet cake. These are the dessert items my mom would make for Thanksgiving. We would only have them at this time of year, which made them not only a tradition but a favorite treat.

As I got older, I had a better appreciation for this fruit but I’m still a chocoholic at heart. Don’t get me wrong, I was caught up in the whole pumpkin trend that consisted of a couple beers and lattes. They would come out around the middle of October and last until Thanksgiving. But sad to say, this fruit has taken on a life of its own thanks to over marketing. I truly believe this is a case of less is more. Now there are more types of pumpkin beer every year, and they keep coming out earlier and earlier. This year they hit the market the end of July. The owner of my local beer distributor said get it now because it won’t be here by Thanksgiving. Then Starbucks, I think it was the end of August or the beginning of September, gave out a secret code to get your pumpkin latte early. We rush through everything and nothing is special anymore. To make my point further, I was in the drive through getting a non pumpkin coffee (lol), and the menu said hurry and try our fall items before they are gone. The date was September 25, 2015. Fall officially started two days prior on September 23rd, and Fall does not officially end until December 21. Sometimes I feel we live such a rat race that we are missing out and loosing family traditions along with recipes and making memories with family and friends.

Below you will find pictures of products I found in the store this year, and others, satire making fun of this trend.

These Items started to appear before the first chill in the air was felt and before the trees started to be tipped in color. Sorry to feel so jaded, but from food to sports nothing has a season any longer. its all about marketing and money.

Hope these made you Laugh!!!!

I still love fall, and as a chef/baker I do bake pumpkin goodies with spices and love. I will be sharing a few of my family favorites. I have to admit that the “Pumpkin Roll” I have not made for a while. It was Levi’s,my nephew, favorite. I would bake extra just for him. Levi will be gone four years this November. I think this may be the year to make it again.

Cake: Preheat oven to 375 F or 190 C. Grease 15X10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax or parchment paper. Grease and flour the paper. Sprinkle heavily a 100% cotton towel (it is also known as Flour Sack 100% cotton and white) with powder sugar.

Combine: Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bow until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. (now is the time to sprinkle with the chips or nuts or both; if you choose to)

Bake: for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully pull off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

Beat cream cheese, sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs, pumpkin and evaporated milk. Add cornstarch, and spices; beat well. Pour into crust. Now take 1 cup of the melted chocolate and spoon onto the top of the cheese cake; then take a butter knife and swirl the chocolate to make a marbling effect.

Bake: for 55 to 60 minutes or until edge is set but center still giggles slightly. Baking the cheese cake in a water bath is optional and your choice. This can be done two ways; first place the cheese cake in a shallow pan, place on oven rack and pour hot water half way up or you can place a pan directly underneath the cheese cake fill with hot water and bake. My cheese cakes have cracked with or without a water bath. Cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for several hours or over night. Before serving remove sides of spring form pan; melt the remaining chocolate chips and drizzle over the top of the cheese cake. Cut and serve.

Note: If you don’t like chocolate use regular graham crackers for the crust and omit the 2 cups of chocolate chips.

I hope you try these recipes and they become your family favorites too. Thank you for your support and Enjoy! ❤ KK